Testify

Interview by Culture Shock Magazine

With their new album Mmmyaoooo and the departure of founding member
Rascal Nikov, Testify establish themselves as a full fledged band rather
than a TFS side project. Moses fills us in.

How did Testify come about and what is its purpose? Why did you decide
to stress the use of guitar so much?

The very first motivation was creating something
different,louder,heavier. The parents of Testify were Rascal and Myk of
TFS. Formerly Testify was thought to be kind of a side project something
like a valve for the TFS guys; a sort of musical playground to try
things that would not fit into the frames of the classic TFS sounds.
Nowadays Testify is a sincere band thing based on the works of Myk
doing the vocals,progs,and sampling and Moses working on guitar,computer
and sampler taking over most of the work Rascal who left Testify in
summer '95 did before. The stress of the guitars to me is a very natural
thing because I've always been a metal head. A short list of some of the
very first records that I called my own may give an impression where my
love for metal plus electronics is rooted; Kraftwerk,AC/DC,Gary
Numan,Judas Priest,Ultravox.

How did you hook up with Fluffy and Howie Beno for the Blizkrieg
mixes?How did that go?Will you be working with them in the future?

I guess the contact came from our American label,Van Richter and
especially Paul Abramson. But was it Paul who asked Beno or was it Beno
who asked Paul?Nevertheless we sent them material from the first album
and they did it. They mixed it. Great work guys! It's a pity we never
met them afterwards. It should happen at least this century!

Skrew is to produce the next Testify album. How did that come about?How
closely have you worked with them? Can you tell us the title?

We did not work with the whole band but with Adam Grossman, the Skrew
singer and guitar player. He had heard Testify before and told our label
that he was interested in working with us. Adam came over to Germany to
take part in the production. We had prepared a collection of 14 or 15
songs before, so he could chose his favorites to work on. He did acouple
of great things ; sometimes progs additions,sometimes choir vocals, a
little noisy guitar solo,arrangement adjustments and so on. He really
did quite good work. I had the impression the he was very close to the
spirit of our music. By the way I love the Skrew material too. And I
like Adam as a person- quite a nice and cool guy.

What does the future hold for Testify?

Of course the new release- I guess in June '96.,called Mmmyaoooo. Also
live touring in the states if possible, a deal for Germany and Europe of
course touring Germany and Europe and maybe some remix work or
collaberation with other acts- nothing fixed yet,just ideas.